Abortion survivor to speak at 2015 Rose Day

Melissa Ohden will be the featured speaker at the 24th annual Rose Day Pro-Life rally, the signature event of the pro-life movement in Oklahoma, Feb. 4 at the Oklahoma State Capitol.

Ohden is the survivor of a failed saline infusion abortion at seven months gestation in 1977.

After years of searching for her biological family and offering them forgiveness for the decision that was made to end her life, Ohden’s story, and her life, is so much more than one of survival.It is about the beauty of God’s grace in people’s lives, about the power of love, about the hope for joy and healing in the midst of grief and loss, and about the transformational power of forgiveness and in answering God’s call for your life.

Ohden is truly a voice for the voiceless.

She was formerly a College Outreach Speaker with Feminists for Life and former Patron of Real Choices Australia.She is the Founder and Director of For Olivia’s Sake, an organization which seeks to raise awareness of the intergenerational impact of abortion on men, women, children, families, and communities.

The birth of Olivia, her first child, in 2008, who never would have existed if Melissa’s birthmother’s abortion had succeeded in ending her life, prompted Ohden to create this organization that would positively raise awareness of the ripple effect of abortion across generations.

In 2012, Ohden founded The Abortion Survivors Network, www.the
abortionsurvivors.com, after recognizing the number of abortion survivors and how most felt alone in this role, and after recognizing the need for the public to be educated about the reality of failed abortions and abortion survivors. Since ASN’s inception, Ohden has been in contact with more than 130 survivors, and she is working on a healing ministry curriculum and a retreat for survivors.

Her life and ministry is featured in the award winning pro-life documentary, “A Voice for Life.”

Rose Day, which is organized by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) and the Rose Day Committee consisting of faith-based groups, is a time when pro-life citizens gather at the Capitol to symbolize their support for the sanctity of life by distributing red roses to the Governor, Lt. Governor and state legislators.

“Rose Day is such an important event in the life of our state,” said BGCO Executive Director-Treasurer Anthony L. Jordan. “It is a wonderful opportunity for people of faith to gather together at the State Capitol and show our government leaders that our state’s citizens support policies that protect the unborn and promote the value of God-given life.”

The Rose Day Committee is a non-partisan group of pro-life leaders from the BGCO, Hope Pregnancy Ministries, Oklahomans for Life and other groups.

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Messenger Staff

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